The Seattle Reign opened their 2025 NWSL campaign with a point at home against NJ/NY Gotham City FC. It was, perhaps, not the ideal result after holding momentum for much of the game and spending the last 10+ minutes (including stoppage) up a player. But it was a point nonetheless, a comeback point against a tough opponent. As coach Laura Harvey said after the match, "I'm not sure we'd have come out of that game last year with a point, we'd probably have given something away."

It was a deflected goal off a rebound from a corner kick that they gave away in the first half, but the Reign came back in a second half where they were clearly dominant. The push was not quite enough to result in a win, but it is a point in the bag to start the year.

The first half started with the Reign taking the kickoff under a sheet of rain. A fitting start to the season. A few long balls played forward eventually resulted in Jordyn Huitema getting on the ball in the box in the 2nd minute, which she calmly played back to Jess Fishlock for a shot just over the bar. As the teams settled in and the rain let up some, it was a back-and-forth affair with few clear chances. Gotham had some shots from distance that did not trouble Claudia Dickey while Seattle got forward nicely but could not get any quality shots off. Rookie Maddie Dahlien was a bright spot in her pro debut, using her speed to get on the end of a few balls that were some of the better chances of the first half.

One big moment late in the first half was when Jordyn Huitema looked to get on the end of Madison Curry's ball into the box, but was met by Gotham keeper Ann-Katrin Berger charging out. It was unclear whether Huitema received the ball and Berger punched it off her, clattering through Huitema, or if Berger was there first and it was Huitema who was a split second late. In the end, Huitema was judged to have been the guilty party.

It was a frustrating start to the second half for the Reign as a relatively innocuous ball was sent out for a corner. The initial ball off the corner was not cleared past the top of the box. Gabi Portilho, in her Gotham debut, was waiting at the top of the 18 and blasted it in. Huitema tried to block but deflected it into the net with no chance at a Dickey save.

Harvey said they made an adjustment at halftime that she felt got the Reign on the front foot more. You can clearly see the momentum difference after about the 50th minute in the GameFlow chart.

The Reign made some changes in their attack, bringing on Nérilia Mondésir for Ana-Maria Crnogorčević, then about ten minutes later Maddie Mercado and Emeri Adames for Dahlien and Angharad James-Turner. Those changes led to the Reign's equalizer, as Mondésir got on a loose ball in the box for a shot. The deflection eventually hit Adames in the chest, with her putting the ball in the net as she fell to the ground when she blocked Sarah Schupansky's clearance attempt.

A bit later, former Reign player Jaelin Howell was inexplicably lucky to escape a red when she flew studs up in the air and cleated Maddie Mercado in the face. Then in the 87th minute, Mandy Freeman was not as lucky, as she was sent off after a VAR review for stepping on Mondésir's ankle as Mondésir raced away from her with the ball.

The Reign would have eight minutes of stoppage to try and take advantage of the sending off. Unfortunately, they could not find the connections to make good on the advantage, their best being a cross in the 87th minute that Berger was able to corral. Huitema was very lucky to not see a second yellow as she attempted to take the ball out of the air when Berger was sending it out and collided with Berger.

In the end, there wasn't enough quality to separate the sides. A 1-1 tie was the result.

Highlight Moments

47th minute, Gabi Portilho scores the opening goal for Gotham

71st minute, Emeri Adames scores the equalizer for the Reign

Quick Thoughts

1. Laura Harvey has some tough lineup decisions in the attacking band

The Reign lined up in a 4-3-3 with rookie Dahlien, Huitema and Crnogorčević across the front three. Huitema played the full match, with Adames and Mondésir playing the last 30-ish minutes counting stoppage. The quality of the subs was obvious, with Mondésir the center of many dangerous attacks and Adames causing enough chaos to grab the goal. Dahlien and Crnogorčević had their moments as well, pressing for the first 60 minutes of the game.

Dahlien especially had one golden chance on a breakaway, but crossed it with no runners available instead of taking a shot herself. Harvey quipped after the match "the thing she's got to get used to is not many people are as quick as her, so I was like, 'no one's going to be there, mate, they're not as fast as you.'" When Lynn Biyendolo is back from injury, or if Mondésir or possibly Adames is on the opposite side of Dahlien, there may be better chances for Dahlien to connect with other speedsters. The starting lineup was stable and had a good shift, but the quality of the subs attacking late will make for difficult choices, especially when Biyendolo is back.

2. The worst referee is an inconsistent referee

There were multiple moments of physical play in this match, and the refereeing was not very consistent in what was a foul and perhaps a yellow and what was allowed. There was a particular stretch of minutes where it seemed like any physical challenge from Gotham was allowed and anything from the Reign was a yellow card or at least a talking to. Then there was the dangerous moment of Howell connecting her studs with Mercado's face, which only merited a yellow, with Freeman getting a red after a VAR review (it was initially no card at all) for stepping on Mondésir's ankle. There is no reason why one of those challenges would be a red and the other wouldn't be (they both should be though if one of them wasn't they should have excused the step), and it was unclear why the collision between Berger and Huitema was not looked at any more closely to see which player was late.

3. Madison Curry has been a "seamless" addition

An underrated move of the Reign's offseason was bringing in Madison Curry after she chose not to return to Angel City after her rookie year. Harvey said, "It's been a seamless transition from the minute [Curry] started training with us in preseason." Tonight, she was a lock-down defender and served many threatening balls into the box. Her performance tonight was reminiscent of many Sofia Huerta performances at the right back slot. Harvey added that Curry can play both sides of the defense, that her versatility in being able to play multiple positions was a big reason they brought her in. It seems that Curry will be a fixture on the back line for many games (years? she's signed through 2027) to come.

Injury Update

Harvey shared that Lynn Biyendolo is "day to day," that she "turned a corner" recently and is much improved from last week. She said that it is a long season and they do not want to rush her back, that she hopes Biyendolo is ready tomorrow, but doesn't want to push it.

What's Next

Next up for the Reign is an away match at North Carolina Courage on Saturday, March 22 at 4:00 PM PT.